News and Views

It really doesn’t seem fair, that here I am half way around the world in an exotic foreign country, and Dale down in southern Arizona has a more interesting blog. He must be a better writer.

Today we passed over the 17th parallel of latitude that used to divide North and South Vietnam. It is now a national monument. Nothing is really different north of the line, at least not any more. The countryside has been getting steadily more mountainous and it seems like we see more rice paddies and water buffalos, but that could just be an impression.

Yesterday we drove by the airport in Phu Bai where Richard was stationed for a couple of months in (?) 1969. After spending some time in the area I’m almost surprised that Richard didn’t re-up. I certainly want to come back and spend more time without the hassle of a tour guide waking us up at 5:30 or 6:00 each morning to hit the road.

It is turning out to be one of those tours, where each day is a struggle to fit all the sites in, going at it from 6 or 7 in the morning and finally only getting into a new hotel at 8 or 9 in the evening. Several of us wish things could be a little more leisurely, but I guess it can’t be changed now. Reservations have been made and tickets bought.

My earlier impression about the food has turned out to be a one-time thing. Since that first night with somewhat unusual items that I probably wouldn’t have ordered from a menu, the food has been excellent. That is to say, Don and Mom would probably enjoy it as much as me, though my other siblings would probably starve. In central and northern Vietnam the food is getting more like Chinese but done in different ways with unique seasonings, sauces and spices. Really delicious.

Speaking of food, there’s one thing I had to make clear from the start. It’s considered polite at a Chinese meal to put food in someone elses dish, especially for the host to do so for a guest. I remember one dinner in Taiwan where I had been invited into a home. As soon as I sat down, the hostess plopped a big spoonful of fatty pork into my bowl. I really wanted to eat some of the other dishes that looked a lot more edible, but I gritted my teeth and forced them through the fat. As I was finally finishing the last bite, I thought “Now I can eat some of that good looking chicken and snow peas” or whatever the other dish was. Just then, the hostess said, “I see you really like the pork since you ate it all up. Here’s some more.” And with that I had another spoonful of the disgusting stuff plopped into my bowl.

Since then I’ve learned some tactics to avoid this situation, but the most straightforward, and diplomatically touchy, is to cover my bowl with my hand when I see something coming and plead, “Please don’t put food in my bowl.”

On the first night of the trip Gisele explained to the table that Americans like to dish out their own food, and since tastes differ, what is a treat to them may not be to us. I haven’t had any problems since.

Today we went into one cave of the largest cave system in the world (over 150 km long), at the Thien Duong cave. That particular cave is not a record holder, and the walkways only go about 1 km (.62 miles) but it has only been open to the public since 2009 and is pristine and spectacular. There were only a few other people in there with us, and I was able to walk alone for several minutes enjoying the quiet and beauty.

By the way, we have confirmed that we are going to go into Cambodia after the Vietnam tour is finished next Monday. Angela has a friend who lives in Cambodia and has made some reservations for us. Our destination is Angkor Watt, one of the 10 man-made wonders of the world (according to Touropia). I will have seen half of them at that point (The Collesium in Rome, Teotihuacan in Mexico City, Macchu Pichu in Peru, the Great Wall of China, and now Ankgor Watt. I’m not sure I will ever get to all of them, considering the political problems in Egypt (Great Pyramid) and the unpleasantness of traveling in India (Taj Mahal). Easter Island might be neat, but it’s a long way to travel to see a few heads.

Of course, it’s an arbitrary list that doesn’t always include Angkor Watt. Some lists include Stonehenge (been there) and the leaning tower of Pisa (also). But Angkor Watt makes a lot of the lists.

We flew early this morning from Saigon to the city of Da Nang in central Vietnam. This is near where Richard was stationed during the war, and I’m sure he came through Da Nang on his way in and out. There’s a beautiful beach here that was the supposed setting of the TV show “China Beach”.

Richard, to answer your question on my previous post about how we are getting around here, we have our own mid-sized tourist bus that seats all 14 of us.Today we saw only Da Nang and the nearby town of Hoi An. Hoi An is a beautiful town or small city full of Europeans, in places more Europeans than Vietnamese. It’s understandable why they come here – the weather is perfect and the town is lovely.

The others are making a real effort to include me, and we spent an enjoyable dinner speaking much of the time in Mandarin so I could join in. I don’t want them to feel that they have to speak Mandarin all the time, since I’m afraid it will slightly reduce their own spontenaity, but part time is nice.

In Saigon I got SIM cards for both Gisele and me. I got unlimited phone calls, text and 4G data for $5 for the whole month. The data speed is only 6 MBPS or so, slower than I usually see at home, but it seems very reliable and ubiquitious. The cost was an amazing $5 per phone.

There has been a lot of inflation with the Vietnamese Dong. One US dollar is worth about 20,000 dong, and $100 is worth 2 million dong. When quoting prices people just leave off the thousands and ask for “$300” when they mean $300 thousand. The thousands is understood.

Jet lag — falling asleep. I better post this before my forhead starts typing.

This is my first trip to Vietnam, but I have been in other south east Asian countries before, including Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore. So it’s new but not completely unfamiliar.

I’m here with Gisele who is on a kind of church reunion trip. Three of her siblings and about 10 other friends from her childhood in Vietnam are here, some of them back for the first time and some who have visited before. All of them except for a couple of spouses grew up here in the Saigon Chinatown and went to the same church together. I am the only caucasion, and the only one not fluent in Cantonese. I’m used to being left out of the conversation, and I can understand some of the Cantonese, but I definitely feel a little on my own. They are all very friendly and go out of their way to speak a few words of Mandarin or English to me occasionally, so that helps. I guess it’s all part of the experience.

Last night we all went out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I’m used to eating Chinese food, but tastes differ. Last night the pigeon was pretty good, though not much meat and the deer tasted just like beef, so long with a few other dishes I was able to get full.

An easy restful day today, then we catch a plane tomorrow to central Vietnam, Hue and Da Nang, near where Richard was stationed during the war.

I have a Sling Box on my Dish DVR at home that is supposed to let me access my DVR from anywhere in the world. I hadn’t been able to use it much on previous trips, but I got a new router on my home network that lets me prioritize connections. I just watched the UA basketball game from my hotel room on my tablet computer, and except for a few minor glitches it worked very well. Nice to be able to stay in touch like that. What a world we live in.

We had a few minor events on the trip here, but nothing as exciting as seeing a mountain lion.

Because of complications in the itinerary, we had two separate reservations on Eva Air; one from Los Angeles to Taipei, and the other from Taipei to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Our flight from Phoenix was delayed almost an hour, and we were the last ones to check in for the Taipei flight out of Los Angeles. I told the agent that we were going to Saigon, but in the hurry she saw the first reservation and checked us to Taipei and we didn’t notice. Half way to Taipei I suddenty suspected what had happened and confirmed it when I checked the baggage claim. That stressed me out a little, imagining that when we arrived in Taipei we would have to go through immigration and customs, find our luggage, recheck it to Saigon, and then go back in through immigration and security.

Fortunately the Eva transit agent in Taipei was able to divert our bags without our intervention, and they arrived with us in Saigon.

We flew Eva Air this time, a Taiwan airline noted for pretty good service. Business class with the flat beds would have been very expensive, over $5000 each, so we opted for the next best “Elite” class. It’s slightly better than economy, but far from business class. There’s a little more legroom, the seats are a little wider, they recline a little further and there is a foot rest, plus we get to board ahead of economy. A worthwhile upgrade for just a few hundred more. We didn’t sleep as well as we would have lying down, but better than we would have in the back. One nice feature that I wish all airlines would implement: When you recline, instead of leaning back into the passenger behind you, your seat slides forward and the back drops almost straight down. The result is that reclining reduces your owns space, not the space of the passenger behind you. I think this reduces inter-passenger friction, and means you can stay reclined during meals if you want.

We arrived at our hotel and I met the rest of the tour. More about that in the next post.

We just heard back that the test of Apollo’s tumor came back negative for cancer. With the removal of testosterone producing glands, the existing small tumors should shrink.

According to Wikipedia, intact male dogs are 3 times more likely to have this kind of tumor, and that 95% of the tumors will disappear after neutering. The most commonly affected breed of dog is… Siberian Husky. The prognosis is much worse for cancerous tumors, but we don’t have to worry about that now.

He is feeling a lot better each day. He has to wear the “cone of shame” and take it easy until he gets his stitches out after about 10 days (another week now). Then he should be back to normal.

Gisele and I are leaving for a trip to Vietnam on Thursday. Her brother has organized the trip and we will be joined by several others in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).

We arrive in HCM City, then travel northward viewing sites on the way, including the Hue region where Richard was stationed during the war. We eventually reach Hanoi in the north, and then fly back to Saigon. If we have time and can arrange it, we would like to take a short expedition to Cambodia to visit the famous Angkor Wat temple complex, which rivals the Taj Mahal in grandeur.

Gisele has been back to Vietnam a couple of times since she left there in 1979, but this will be my first visit.

We are stopping in Taiwan for a few days on our way home to see Devon.

Apollo went to the vet today for surgery. He has a couple of suspicious tumors. They are probably benign, but they need to be removed anyway. I’ll post an update in a comment here once we hear back.

Our bathroom shower is just about as far from the water heater as it could be. When taking a shower, we turn on the hot water and then go do something else while we wait 1-2 minutes for the hot water to make it through the pipes. But it’s hard to guess when the water is getting hot unless we frequently open the door and feel it. If we wait too long, we waste hot water.

I recently installed a Ladybug Shower Head Adapter from Evolve.

With this clever gadget in place, we turn on the hot water and then go do something else (brush teeth, get undressed, etc.). When the water gets hot the Ladybug shuts the flow down to a small trickle, just enough to keep the water hot but minimizing the waste. We can easily hear the change in flow and when we are ready we open the door, pull the tab hanging from the shower head, and immediately the water returns to full flow. If we can’t come right away, only a little hot water gets wasted.

At $25 it will probably take a long time to save enough hot water to pay back, but I like the convenience, energy savings and that we ensure enough water is left for the next person.

There’s a very useful webpage, ninite.com. Put a checkmark next to all the programs you have installed on your computer, click “Get Installer”, and the page will download and install all updates. It even makes sure to leave out the add-ons so many programs like to include, such as the despicable Ask bar, or McAfee Scanner.

Many of my favorite programs are listed, including OpenOffice, 7-Zip, VLC, CDBurnerXP, Faststone, and many others. Everything I’ve read about it gives Ninite thumbs up for safety. There’s a Pro version that keeps things updated without having to check in periodically, but I think the free version is just fine.

It works best if you exit all running programs when you start, since some programs cannot be updated while they are running.

How do airplanes fly?
I was taught in high school that the reason a wing provides lift is because the top is curved more than the bottom and that the air flowing faster over the top has less pressure. There is some truth to that, but the major source of lift is angle of attack, the front of the wing being higher than the rear. As a child I experimented with this effect by sticking my hand out the window of a moving car and noticing how the air would strongly push my hand up or down depending on how I positioned it. The curved top of a wing helps to smooth out the airflow and reduce turbulence and drag, but has a smaller effect on lift. If you doubt this, then consider how a plane can fly upside down. It’s not quite as efficient because the airfoil is working against you, but angle of attack easily counteracts that.

Why does a meteor burn up?
We frequently hear that a meteor or re-entering spacecraft heats up because of “friction” with the air. It’s true that the object moving through the air will generate some heat from the air rubbing against its sides, but most of the heat is generated by the air being compressed in the front (i.e. “Ram Pressure“). As the meteor enters the atmosphere, air in front is unable to move out of the way as quickly as the meteor is falling, and the air gets extremely compressed. Compressing a gas raises its temperature. Think about where the heat shield is on the old Mercury or Apollo capsules: On the bottom surface that leads its descent. The sides of the capsule are much less insulated because the air flowing over the sides adds little heat.